1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of billing the parking of vehicles by means of parking meters or pay meters. More specifically, but not exclusively, the invention relates to a method for billing a parking fee to a cash card, pay card or credit card account.
2. Description of the Related Art
In cities, towns and other municipalities, there will be one or more vehicle parking companies who have so-called pay meters distributed throughout the city or town in a number of different places, where streets, roads and large parking areas are the most common places.
In recent times, it has become possible to pay parking fees with different types of banker's card or cash card, in addition to coin payment. When a cash card is used, the person parking a vehicle will draw the card through a card reader on the parking meter.
The invention relates to the type of payment system in which the person parking a vehicle draws a cash card through a card reader in the pay meter, whereupon the meter stores the card number and the time at which the card was read, and then issues a parking ticket. This ticket is usually placed on the dashboard, in a position where it can be seen.
According to one known system, when collecting the vehicle the person concerned again goes to the pay meter and again draws the card through the card reader. The pay meter then again stores the card number and compares the vehicle collection time with the earlier time at which the card was first drawn through the card reader installed in the pay meter. The pay meter then calculates the parking fee to be billed and stores this sum together with the number recorded for the card to be charged, and issues a receipt.
One problem with this system is that when collecting the vehicle, it is necessary to go to the same pay meter as that in which the card was first read on the parking occasion, in order for the card to be read again on the vehicle collecting occasion. More specifically, the problem resides in the fact that certain parking areas include a large number of pay meters and occasionally drivers forget which pay meter they have used when parking the vehicle. Another problem is that people who park a vehicle several times in a number of different parking places and within a limited time period are forced to find the relevant pay meter twice on each separate parking occasion.
One solution to these problems would be to connect all pay meters permanently to a central computer in an on-line system, in which the storage of all information and the calculation of all parking fees, the billing of the accounts of respective cash cards, etc., is dealt with centrally. This solution cannot be put into practice, however, because of the excessively high cost entailed by connecting all pay meters to a central computer.
It is therefore highly desirable to be able to use any pay meter whatsoever when parking a vehicle and then use any pay meter whatsoever when collecting the vehicle. The only requirement would be that the two meters used belong to one and the same parking company. In this regard, it would be possible to commence a series of parking occasions at one place in the city or town and draw the cash card through the reader of a given meter and to terminate the series of parking occasions at another place in the city or town, by drawing the card through the reader of another meter.
Swedish Patent 501 845 teaches a solution to this problem in which each meter is free-standing and thus not connected to other meters or to a central computer.
This prior publication relates to a method of cash card billing with the aid of pay meters when parking a vehicle, there being provided a pay meter system which includes a plurality of meters, each constituting an independent operative unit. Each of the meters is equipped with a cash card reader. A person wishing to park a vehicle finds a meter and with the aid of the cash card reader feeds-in from the cash card information relating at least to the cash card account number. The meter issues a parking ticket on which the time at which the parking period was commenced, subsequent to having read the cash card.
The known invention is characterized in that when the cash card is read by a first meter BA1 in conjunction with the commencement of the parking period, the meter is caused to store the account number KN and the time, i.e., the parking commencement time IT, together with a transaction number TN, as a first transaction T1, in a memory BA1 MEM which belongs to the first meter, this transaction number being unique. The meter BA1 is caused to issue a parking ticket on which the transaction number TN is given in a form that can be read by a meter.
When terminating the parking period, the parking ticket is caused to be read in a second meter BA2, which may be any chosen meter in the meter system, including the said first meter, wherein the second meter BA2 is caused to store in a memory BA2 MEM belonging to said second meter the transaction number TN read by the meter from the parking ticket together with the time at which the ticket was read, the parking termination time UT, as a second transaction T2.
The memories of the respective first meter and the respective second meter are emptied at given times and transferred to the memory of a central computer.
The central computer is caused to combine the respective transactions T1 and T2 of the first and the second meters BA1 and BA2 with the aid of the transaction numbers TN and therewith bill the cash card account number KN with a parking fee calculated on the parking commencement time IT and the parking termination time UT.
One problem with the system disclosed in this prior patent specification is that it is necessary to empty a large number of memories of their respective contents in a large number of pay meters and run the information taken from the memories through a central computer before the cash card or credit card used can be billed.
A system which enables parking of vehicles to be commenced and terminated throughout a wide geographical area is likely to include a very large number of pay meters whose memory contents must be accessible in the central computer at one and the same time.
Another problem is that if the memory content of a pay meter is not available at the time of running said information through the central computer, it will not be possible to pair up the transactions stored in the memory of this particular meter with associated transactions in the memories of other meters with the aid of the transaction numbers, therewith preventing billing of the cash card or credit card concerned.
The present invention solves these problems.